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Beauty in everything

Category Archive: History

Catherine the Great and her men. Russian artist Rokotov painted the Portrait of Catherine II

Catherine the Great and her men

Empress of Russia Catherine the Great (real name Sophie Fredericke Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst) was born on April 21, 1729 in Stettin, Germany, now it is Szczecin, Poland. At the age of 15 she married Peter III and at the age of 32 she became Empress of Russia. Catherine is remembered in the history of Russia as a patron of the arts, literature, and education. She is known not only for her great rule, during which she had made Russia the great empire, but also for her romance stories with noble favorites. The candidates for lovers she selected should have attractive appearance, physical and mental abilities, competence. The chosen favorites loved her, and she was always generous to them in return, even after the romance ended. The list of lovers included counts and princes.More »

Polish Catholic nurse social worker Irena Sendler was born as Irena Krzyzanowska on 15 February 1910, in Warsaw, Russian partition. She served in the Polish underground resistance organization during World War II, and headed the children’s section of Zegota in German-occupied Warsaw. Sendler managed to smuggle 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and then provided them with false identity documents and with housing outside the Ghetto, thereby saving those children from being killed in the Holocaust. She was caught, and the Nazi’s broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Tortured and sentenced her to death by the Nazis escaped execution and survived the war.More »

Historical dolls of Olina Ventsel
Russian Theater and cinema artist, recognized doll-maker Olina Dmitrievna Ventsel (December 2, 1938 – November 17, 2007) was born in Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. Ventsel was one of the most famous and acclaimed artists and puppeteers. For a long time Olina worked as an Art Director on historical costume in the theaters and film studios. She created porcelain dolls in historical costume since 1986. Her art works are highly appreciated not only in Russia but also abroad. About 150 copyright porcelain dolls of Olina Ventsel are stored in galleries, museums in Moscow, Amsterdam, New York, Venice, Paris, Copenhagen, as well as in private collections of Mireille Mathieu, Paul McCartney, Queen of Denmark Margrette II.More »

Afghanistan is often called a medieval country. Many people consider Afghanistan a country without Government, where chaos is literally embedded in the rocks and hills. But Afghanistan has not always been like this. Once women here made careers in medicine, went to the movies and entered universities of Kabul. Factories in the suburbs produced fabrics and other products. There was law and order, and the Government could carry out major infrastructure development projects, such as building hydroelectric power stations and roads, though not without outside help. Among ordinary people was a hope for the future that education will open up new opportunities. All this was destroyed by 30 years of war.More »

Lascaux Art from vanished people
I’ve come across an unbelievable story published by life.time.com, thought I might be not the only who didn’t know about this miracle. On September 12, 1940, in southwestern France, two schoolboys and their dog Robot excitedly chased a hare down a hole in the ground beside a downed tree. The boys began to dig, widening the hole, removing rocks, until they were able to follow their hound down — and found themselves not just in another world, but another time. In the cool dark beneath the known world, the boys discovered “Versailles of prehistory” — a vast series of caves, known today as Lascaux, covered with wall paintings close to 20,000 years old.More »

Ekaterina Desnitskaya Princess of Siam
In the summer of 1897, the King of Siam, now Thailand, arrived in St. Petersburg. Here he was hospitably accepted by the Russian tsar Nikolai II. The Russian Tsar remembered his first journey to the East, how he stayed in Siam, and nothing spoiled the mood of Russian Emperor in Bangkok then. Once, in a friendly conversation, Nicholas II invited one of the sons of the high guest to study in St. Petersburg.
Chakrabongse Bhuvanadh was the second child of King Chulalongkorn and his beloved wife Queen Saovabha Bongsri. So, in the spring the young Prince Chakrabongse Bhuvanadh appeared on the banks of the Neva River. He was enrolled in the Imperial enclosure, where the Cadets were sons of Russian noble elite. Training here was in grand style, besides, it was prestigious.More »

Diana Spencer and Adam Russell in Not to be published photo. Beautiful 18-year-old future Princess of Wales Lady Diana Spencer pictured with an English aristocrat Adam Russell, the great-grandson of former Tory prime minister Stanley Baldwin. They are shown relaxing during a group ski holiday in Val Claret in the French Alps in 1979. The old photograph shows Diana lying on a bed in a chalet with Mr Russell, who is resting his book on her shoulder. On the window ledge behind them is a bottle of Johnnie Walker whisky. Mr Russell declined to comment the innocent photo with censorship note ‘Not to be published‘. The Daily Mirror bought the photo two days after Diana’s engagement to Prince Charles in February 1981, it is now being auctioned in the US.More »